


Surprises

by RogueFoxPaws



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/M, Holidays, Mileven, One Shot, post-season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 04:34:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20500952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RogueFoxPaws/pseuds/RogueFoxPaws
Summary: El and the Byers are settled into their new house and the rest of their friends are coming to stay with them for Christmas.  What's a few more surprises to add to all the holiday excitement?





	Surprises

Six one five.

They were late.

El sat in the middle of her bed, mindlessly flipping through a copy of Seventeen, looking up to check the clock on her nightstand. Every time she heard a sound, her heart would skip. _They’re here!_ She would get excited, thinking it was a car door shutting. Each time so far had been a let down when it turned out to be Joyce closing the stove or grabbing another pan from the cabinet.

A light knock on her door drew her attention away from the clock. It was Will, a desperate look on his face.

“El, have you seen my red dice from this morning? I’ve looked all over the house and I can’t find them!”

“Living room. On the bookshelf.”

“Oh yeah, when I had to help pick up all the paper and boxes earlier. Thanks. Tonight is going to be AWESOME!” Will turned and his footsteps faded down the stairs.

In the last few months, El and Will had grown close as siblings. Joyce had decided to homeschool both of them, working night shifts at the factory in town, and teaching them in the mornings, with just enough time to rest and make dinner before going back into work. It reminded El of the time she had with Hopper - their nightly routine of secret codes and microwave dinners, and when he would let her stay up late on Fridays to watch Miami Vice. (Which Joyce still let her do each week.) Only now her routine included less television with more homework and textbooks, and trying to beat Will to the last chocolate chip cookie at lunchtime. Some nights throughout the week included sitting at WIll’s desk, scribbling down and erasing different numbers as he would teach her the basics of Dungeons & Dragons. On certain nights after dinner, if she wasn’t covered up with homework, El would call Mike and they would talk about all the new stuff they had done that week and how many days were left until Christmas.

Jonathan was also working more often these days. He had taken a job at the local supermarket doing inventory, while also working his internship with the town’s newspaper. His plans of going to NYU had been put on hold to try and help his mom get settled in their new house - in their new _home_. But whenever El was having a rough day, she could count on Jonathan to slide into her doorway and cheer her up with an over-exaggerated air guitar solo set to his favorite album that day.

She had become part of their family. Her family.

They had all been preparing and planning for Christmas this year, keeping to the original plan of everyone gathering at their new place to see everything. And, of course, to see everyone.

With the small allowances Joyce would give her and Will, El had saved hers to be able to get Mike a present. They were all out getting a start on some Christmas shopping when she saw it - the Lego FX Star Patroller. It was one of the hottest sets of the year and she knew Mike would enjoy being able to put it together and take it apart again. She figured that maybe they could even build it together while he was visiting for the holiday.

And now it sat by her closet door, carefully wrapped with Jonathan’s help, along with another wrapped rectangle box.

She was trying to imagine his expression as he opened the box when suddenly loud footsteps were running up the stairs.

“El! El! They’re here!”

In a heartbeat, she jumped from the bed, leapt through her doorway into the hall, and almost slammed right into Will. She gasped, both of them bending over in a fit of laughter.

“Come on, they’re here!” Will bounded back down the stairs, skipping a few on his way. El felt like her feet wouldn’t move fast enough as she raced behind him, racing after Will towards the front door.

Joyce was already there, opening the door and greeting Mrs. Wheeler and Mrs. Sinclair. El barely had time to see Jonathan helping Nancy out of the car when two figures crashed through the house, swallowing both her and Will in a hug.

“Byers!!”

Chaos broke loose as Dustin and Lucas yelled, trying to tell them everything at once.

“Your new place is so cool!” “Did you see all the new Thundercats episodes?” “Oh my gosh, Mr. Clarke got this cool new setup and we got to be the first ones to try it out!” “Yeah, but that’s NOTHING compared to what happened to Mark Gilmore in gym class last week!” “We’ve got the coolest presents to show you! What all did you get?!”

El had barely started to open her mouth when a third person was running up to their huddle.

“El!”

The familiar voice made her turn and before she could move for him first, Mike had his arms around her and pulled her tight against him. She threw her arms around his waist and held on, as if the world was going to take him back as fast as he appeared.

“Mike! You’re late! I was worried about you.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. After we stopped and called you all, we ran into some bad weather right after. But we made it. Finally.”

“Finally.” She gave him one last squeeze around the middle before they pulled apart to smile at each other.

“I see how it is, Mike. Just come in and ignore everyone else. I’ll remember that the next time you need to borrow one of my comics.” Will was teasing him, Dustin and Lucas shaking their heads in mock disapproval.

“Oh come on, Will. I’ll make it up to you… by kicking your ass at Gauntlet the next time you’re in town.”

A unanimous “Ooooooh” came from Dustin and Lucas, followed by more yelling and laughter as the five of them grouped together for one giant hug.

Soon enough, they were all cramped together in the small dining room. Joyce was relieved that she had finally managed to learn how to make mashed potatoes that wouldn’t run all over the plate. Mrs. Wheeler was filling the other two ladies in on all the latest Hawkins gossip. Jonathan and Nancy were catching up with each other, Jonathan’s arm wrapped around her shoulders.

The rest of them had barely touched their dinner from all the conversation and chatter.

“Man, that sucks about Max. Hope she gets to feeling better.”

“Yeah,” Lucas shook his head, “she was really looking forward to coming, but she didn’t want to get anyone else sick. She really misses you, El. She threatened me with my life if I didn’t tell you that she says hi and Merry Christmas. Might want to call her later and let her know that I followed through.”

El let out a laugh. “I will. I miss her, too.”

“What about Erica? I thought she was coming?” Will asked.

“She said she had enough of you all after the summer.”

Dustin sat back and rolled his eyes.

Lucas brushed off his reaction and went on, “Nah, she had dance practice for her ballet recital. Don’t worry, though. She’s a frequent customer at Family Video, making sure Steve and Robin are giving her a free rental each week.”

Will nodded. “Clever.”

“Okay, guys, come on. We’ve got some pretty sweet presents for you!” Dustin jumped up from his chair and the rest of them followed him into the living room.

It didn’t take long for the entire room to be filled with torn wrapping paper and boxes. Dustin was ecstatic showing Will what all came in the electro-science kit that he got for him. El was sitting next to Mike, her own pile of presents stacked in her lap, and she turned to him and smiled.

“Your present is still in my room. Do you want to go open it?”

“Yeah. I still have to give you yours, too.”

She nodded, gathered up the gifts from her friends, and stood up. Mike followed, their hands clasped together. “We’re going upstairs. We’ll be right back. Thank you all for the presents!”

“Already stealing Mike from us,” Lucas teased. “You play dirty, El, you know that?”

She looked at Mike and shrugged in response. “Too bad.”

“‘Oh, Mike, isn’t Christmas just romantic? It’s like a dream,’” Dustin joined in with a high-pitched voice, followed with over-exaggerated kissing noises, “‘I know, El. I’ll just ditch all my friends while they have fun and we’ll have our own Christmas.”

It was Mike who rolled his eyes now. “Look who’s talking, Dustin. I know you write poems and read them to Suzie.”

Dustin’s laugh immediately dropped and his face shifted to shock.

Mike’s expression was triumphant now. “I accidentally picked up your signal one night. Might want to make sure you’re on the right frequency.”

The other two boys rolled over in a fit of laughter as Mike climbed the stairs behind El, grabbing two wrapped presents off his duffel bag on the way.

When they got to her room, El shut the door and gently placed her presents on her nightstand. She picked up the two gifts for Mike and joined him on the bed.

“This one first. I hope you like it.” It made a rattling noise as she handed him what she knew was the Lego set. As Mike took it from her, his face had a mixed emotion El couldn’t quite read.

“Uh, why don’t you open yours first?” he asked, reaching over for the box on top that he had for El. As he handed it to her, the same rattling noise came from inside.

She couldn’t help but look up at him and giggle. “Open them together?”

“Together.”

Mike tore open the side of his as she ripped a strip of paper off the front of hers. She was about to wonder what it was exactly when she saw the picture on the front - the Lego FX Star Patroller.

She grinned and held up her box as Mike held up his. A moment passed, then, the two of them burst out laughing. El laughed until her cheeks began to hurt, and she leaned forward with her forehead on Mike’s shoulder.

“How did we both get the same thing?” she asked while attempting to catch her breath.

“I don’t know, but this is too perfect!” He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in for a hug. “It’s awesome, really. I was actually considering keeping yours for myself and getting you something else. Clearly I didn’t need to worry about that.”

El leaned back and looked at him with a smile. “No, you didn’t. But you still have another one.”

She reached behind her and grabbed the other box. It was skinnier than the Lego box, but longer. Mike took his time to carefully tear the paper off, as if it was fragile. When all the paper was in the floor, Mike gently lifted the top of the box off. Inside, there were three map scenes folded up. As Mike took each one of them out and unfolded them, he was amazed as he saw they were all hand-drawn and colored. One was a river, different shades of blue swirling together for the water. Another one was a village, each rooftop made out of strokes of brown and red. The third one was the layout of a castle, and it was easy to see that this map had received the most attention. Each room was drawn to have furniture, rugs, and windows. It seemed as if it took a whole box of crayons to make all the different colors on the sheet. Under the maps, there was a makeshift book created by stapling together some printing paper. The front page was drawn to look like a red leather-bound book with gold accents. In the middle, there was a picture of a king, a green cloak with fur trim draped over his shoulders and an ornate crown on his head. Below the king, there were six other characters - a Cleric, a Paladin, a Mage, a Ranger, a Zoomer, and a Bard. Around the picture, drawn in calligraphy writing, read “Shadows over Hawkshire - A Campaign by El and Will.” Mike looked back up at the picture and El watched a smile spread across his face.

“Is - is this us? Is it all of us?” His voice was small as he flipped through the rest of the pages.

“Yeah, all of us,” El replied softly. “I wanted to make you something that reminded you of everyone. When we would all have fun. When we would be together.”

A moment passed before Mike spoke again. “This is- It’s just… awesome. There’s all kinds of monsters, and new spells, and new characters. And a whole new story! This is so cool!”

“So you like it?”

“I love it! You two really came up with something cool.”

“Will did a lot. He would help me learn to play. Then I would tell him the stories, and he would draw them.”

“Yeah, he’s good at that. It’s awesome, though, really. This is probably the coolest gift I’ve ever gotten. Now I know why Will said to bring dice.” He carefully folded the maps back up and placed everything back in the box. “Thank you, El.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“Definitely. Now, your turn.” Mike picked up a small square box beside him. Before handing it to El, he looked down. “If it’s not your style, just tell me. I had some help from Nancy, so I’m really hoping she didn’t set me up or something.”

El let out a short laugh as Mike handed her the box. It took her a minute to work at the tape and paper before gently taking off the lid. She inhaled with surprise when she saw what was inside. A silver charm bracelet sparkled in the low light of her bedside lamp.

She gently picked it up and let it dangle from two of her fingers. There were many different charms connected to it, and when she turned it around to look at each of them, all of them jingled.

“It’s… pretty.” She breathed out as Mike took it and helped her put it on her wrist. “It’s so pretty.”

“So you do like it?”

“Love it.”

“Good. I can tell Nancy that her plan to thwart me failed.”

Another smile came across El’s face. She kept smiling as Mike took her hand in his.

“Each charm is for something fun we did together.” He pointed to a snowflake charm. “This one’s for when we went to the Snowball Dance together last year.” He then pointed to a charm of a movie reel. “And for the first movie we saw together at the Hawk.” A turn of the bracelet, then he pointed to a bicycle. “This one’s supposed to be for how we first met. We found Will’s bike then found you right after. Not exactly the happiest way to meet a new friend, but we did meet. And that’s what matters.”

She didn’t know when exactly the tears welled up, but they did, and one had managed to spill onto her cheek. She quickly wiped it away.

“Everything okay?” Mike gave her a concerned look mixed with worry.

“I’m fine. I just… really missed you. And it makes me really happy. With happy memories of us. Of everyone.” She sniffed back more tears, trying instead to smile.

“It’s okay. I missed you, too. So much.” Mike held her hand with both of his, rubbing her palm gently with his thumb. El leaned into him, took time to look over his face, and remembered how he made her feel calm, and safe, and warm. It was hard missing him.

Before she could move, Mike held her face and kissed her. It wasn’t like their earlier kisses when they were excited and figuring each other out. The kiss now was to make a promise. To promise that neither one of them was going anywhere, to promise that they never had to worry about losing one another again.

When they broke apart, Mike gathered her up in his arms and held her tight. He turned and breathed in deeply, telling her just above a whisper in her ear, “Just so you know, I tried to find a waffle charm for your bracelet. I guess people just don’t appreciate fine toaster cuisine.”

Mike held back a laugh at first, then El laughed with him and buried her face in his shirt collar. She was glad to have him here with her, even just for a couple of days for Christmas.

Mike pulled back and gestured behind him with a nod. “Come on, let’s get back downstairs. They might come looking for us if we stay up here too long.”

“Yeah. And there’s more of teasing Dustin, too.”

“Oh there’s lots more.” They stood up from the bed, El behind Mike as they walked out of the room and into the hall. “Wait until you hear about the night I picked up Dustin reciting Star Wars quotes with Suzie.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! As soon as I finished Season 3 I wanted to get a short and sweet Christmas fanfic out there. (I'm kinda lowkey highkey ready for Christmas.) Thanks for the suggestion, Mike! My heart still hurts from that ending, though...
> 
> Also, if you'd like to help grow a community of fellow Stranger Things fans, stop by our Discord server: Scoops Troop!  
https://discord.gg/22Wfh2C
> 
> Thanks again for reading!


End file.
